NetBloke.com - Designing the Web site - Part Four
Publication Date: 19/07/2001
ISSN 1445-1360
Publication Date: 19/07/2001
ISSN 1445-1360
G'day!
Well I have to share a bit of brilliant news with everyone to start off this week. My wife and I were finally approved for our home mortgage. It may not sound exciting to you but believe me when you go from being in Australia where I have been able to get pre-approval in 24 to 48 hours, to the USA where it has taken 2 months to be approved, you would be overjoyed too! I can't get over the emphasis put on your credit report here. Of course I don't have anything on mine, as I have never lived in the USA with a social security number before. Needless to say I will look after mine from now on, as you cannot do a lot of things if you have bad credit.
Anyway back to the Web site building series. Michael W. Shaffer drew my attention to the fact that I left out another Australian Web Editor, FirstPage2000, which is currently freeware and available from http://www.evrsoft.com/. He also mentioned Alpha, which is for MAC users and can be found at http://alpha.olm.net/.
This week's issue will point you in the right direction for building and manipulating any graphics you may want or require on your Web site.
That is about it for now so until next week seeya later!
Nathan Allan
When building a Web site keep in mind the people who are going to be looking at it. Ask your self whether they are going to be prepared to wait for big graphics and long pages to download.
Most of the time using graphics of a small file size is best. Also try and keep the total file size of your web pages (HTML and graphics) to around 50K or less.
The two most common graphics formats for the Web are GIF and JPEG. We might see these acronyms often, but what do they mean?
JPEG
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard.
JPEG works well for photographs and pictures but not as well on lettering and line drawings.
GIF
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format.
It is best used on lettering and graphics that require a high level of definition
Here are some good examples of how JPEG images compare to a GIF image.
http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/impact_docs/e-jpeg.html
This week I am looking at graphics programs that can help you build your Web site. From my experience there are only a few programs used by the majority of people.
Paint Shop Pro
The cheapest of my three picks, this is what the average Joe at home will probably end up using to build their Web site graphics. Well worth a look at if you only have a few bucks and want something that is close to a professional tool.
http://www.paintshoppro.com
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop has long been the professional Webmasters choice for building graphics for the Web. However it is not specifically made for producing Web graphics.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html
Macromedia Fireworks
This product really shows Macromedia's attempt to have an all-inclusive set of tools for building Web sites. This is what Macromedia has to say about Fireworks:
"Create, edit, and animate Web graphics using a complete set of bitmap and vector tools. Use export controls to optimise your images, give them advanced interactivity, and export them into Macromedia Dreamweaver and other HTML editors. Launch and edit Fireworks graphics from inside Dreamweaver or Macromedia Flash."
http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/
Once again this week I am using this spot for myself! So who do you use to host your Web site and why?
I will list your responses next issue.
Answer
Last week I asked you the following question:
" I want ask you what you use to design graphics for your Web site. So what program do you use?"
I didn't really get any surprises on this one. There isn't as much choice in this area as there is with Web Editors.
Jenny whose site is www.jenuine.com said;
"My design tools for graphics? Geesh, I use a lot depending on what I am trying to achieve. Mostly its Fireworks, but have used in the past-Photoshop, CorelDRAW, and even Flash. And don't forget snagit (http://www.techsmith.com/products/snagit/default.asp) for screen captures! I am mentioning this as its a great tool for grabbing stuff that you need to make graphics of- say a word document, flash movies".
Cindy B said;
"Paint Shop Pro (v.7.02) is far and away the very best graphics program/editor for the web ... or for photo restoration/manipulation!
I have PhotoShop (5.5).
I've used Corel.
Neither compares when it comes to ease of use, price, and web graphics!
PSP all the way!!"
David Gano uses Ulead PhotoImpact and PhotoShop
Here is where to find these popular graphics tools that have just been mentioned:
Paint Shop Pro - http://www.paintshoppro.com
Ulead Photoimpact - http://www.ulead.com
Adobe Photoshop - http://www.adobe.com
CorelDRAW - http://www.corel.com
If you have a question of your own, contact me.
The same Jenny from last week sent in yet another joke for me to publish!
It was a cold winter day. An old man walked out onto a frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice and dropped in his fishing line. He was there for almost an hour, without even a nibble, when a young boy walked out onto the ice, cut a hole in the ice not far from him. The young boy dropped his fishing line and minutes later he hooked a Largemouth Bass.
The old man couldn't believe his eyes but chalked it up to plain luck. But shortly thereafter, the young boy pulled in another large catch.
The young boy kept catching fish after fish. Finally, the old man couldn't take it any longer. "Son, I've been here for over an hour without even a nibble. You've been here only a few minutes and have caught a half dozen fish! How do you do it?"
The boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm."
"What was that?" the old man asked.
Again the boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rarrm."
"Look," said the old man, "I can't understand a word you're saying."
The boy spit the contents of his mouth into his hand and said, "You have to keep the worms warm!"
